Fantasy Baseball Today - Trade Matchmaker, Prospects Call-Ups & the EXCITE-O-METER (6/16 Fantasy Baseball Podcast)

Episode Date: June 16, 2021

We have an update on the foreign substance policy, which will begin Monday (2:48)! Why does the MLB always mess these situations up? ... Tyler Glasnow went to the IL with a partially torn UCL but we talked about it much more in our emergency podcast (10:06). ... Do you need to add Bobby Bradley (12:03)? Frank needs to apologize to Taijuan Walker! ... News and notes (20:06)! Jesus Sanchez and Matt Manning have been promoted. Do they need to be added? Max Scherzer and Cody Bellinger went to the IL and much more. ... Let's play a little Trade Matchmaker (29:41). Should you sell-high on these starting pitchers before offense climbs? ... Let's fire up the EXCITE-O-METER for Tuesday's pitching standouts (41:15). ... Is Amed Rosario a must-add (49:40)? ... We wrap up with some studs, bullpen updates and streamers (54:18). ... Email us at [e-mail]. 'Fantasy Baseball Today' is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Castbox and wherever else you listen to podcasts.  Follow our FBT team on Twitter: @FBTPod, @CTowersCBS, @CBSScottWhite, @Roto_Frank, @AdamAizer Join our Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/fantasybaseballtoday Sign up for the FBT Newsletter at https://www.cbssports.com/newsletters/fantasy-baseball-today/ For more fantasy baseball coverage from CBS Sports, visit https://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/ To hear more from the CBS Sports Podcast Network, visit https://www.cbssports.com/podcasts/ Subscribe to our YouTube channel: youtube.com/FantasyBaseballToday You can listen to Fantasy Baseball Today on your smart speakers! Simply say "Alexa, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast" or "Hey Google, play the latest episode of the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast." To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the Fantasy Baseball Today podcast from CBS Sports. I drive. Centerfield. What is magnificent? Got a fantasy question? Email Fantasy Baseball at CBSI.com. Get ready to win your league. Well, fantasy becomes reality.

Now here's Frank, Scott, Chris, and Adam. Happy Luis Castillo might be back day. And welcome into Fantasy Baseball today on Wednesday, June 16th. I am Frank Stample, joined by Scott White. and before we get into everything, because there's a lot, as usual, to talk about. I just want to commend and thank everybody who is here watching us live and listening on demand.

We have talked about this a lot recently, but this has truly been the weirdest fantasy season that we have had to traverse, that we have had to navigate to this point, so give yourself a pat on the back, for sticking with it and not just giving in on fantasy baseball this season. Scott, I am ready to cross.

Crush the comp. Are you ready? Crush the comp? Yes. Like the comparison? No, the competition, Scott. Oh. Comp. I've never heard that before.

I've heard comp is short for compensation. For comp as short, what did I just say? Comp is short for comparison. Composition, I think you just said. Is that what you said? I don't know. Yeah, I've heard that too. But never competition.

Corporate Scott comp for compensation. It's like sausage and pep pizza. What's the pep? Is it pepperoni? Is it peppers? Is it Pepsi? Who calls pizza sausage and pep? Isn't that a thing?

A sausage and pep pizza? I don't know, Scott. I live in New York and I've eaten a lot of pizza in my life. I've never heard of... I thought it was a New York thing. I've never heard of sausage and pep. Sausage and pep. Sauce and pep.

Since we... Have you shortened it to sauce and pep? That'd be really confusing. You're talking about tomato sauce? You're talking about sausage. Since we've... Since we've already wasted this much time, Scott, if you order a regular slice of pizza

or a cheese slice of pizza, what would you ask for? Would you ask for a regular or cheese? Cheese. No, it's a regular slice of pizza. It's normal. It's plain. It's regular. Plain. That's one of the age-old arguments here in New York.

It's regular. It's not a cheese pizza. Anyway, today on the pod, we're going to play a little trade matchmaker. The excitometer is back for some, notable starting pitcher standouts. Recap the rest of Tuesday's action. We're not going to talk about Tyler Glass now as much because we did do an emergency podcast that you can check out on demand. But let's start with more of the latest on foreign substances, which frankly, I've had it up to here, Scott. I've had it up to here with talking about foreign substances, but I feel like

whenever there's an update, we do have to update the people. But I've, I've had it. I've had it with this stuff. Oh, we're going to hear, there's a lot more to go. Frank, so don't get tired of it yet. I know, I know. And that, and that's why this has been... It's just beginning. This is just the beginning of the conversation that's going to go on for months and months and months and years, maybe. Maybe the rest of our lives. The rest of our lives. All right, so let's get to it. MLB confirmed, they will start cracking down on the use of foreign substances for pitchers starting Monday, June 21st,

which we brought up yesterday, but we didn't actually have confirmation from the MLB. We now have that. This will include umpires regularly checking pitchers throughout the course of the game, any pitcher caught with a substance will be ejected from the game immediately and suspended for 10 games with pay. Pitchers can continue to use rosin, but can no longer use it in conjunction with sunscreen, which leads me to believe we're going to see some really wacky suntans for starting pictures. It's going to be, what are they going to use instead? Like some kind of spray on something? I don't know what's going to happen there. But anyway, they can't like just have a glob of suntan lotion somewhere and mix it with

rosin. That's one of the substances they cannot use and also of note, teams will not be able to replace suspended players on their roster, which I thought was interesting. So if someone gets suspended, you're down to a 25-man roster. It doesn't remain a 26-man roster. You just have to play at that disadvantage.

As for what this means for, I guess, the landscape, we spoke about yesterday how it will likely lead to offense being up and pitching, taking a step back, which I think the most obvious, but in terms of control and hit by pitches, we're currently on pace for the most hit by pitches in a season ever, all time. And the MLB is hoping that as a result of not having that extra grip from said substances, pitchers will try and tone it down with the

max effort velocity that they're constantly throwing with, which will lead to improved control. That is an assumption by MLB. I don't know that that is actually going to happen from players in the league, but that is what they think is going to happen. And I don't want to spend too much time on like the ethics side of things here, Scott. You know, who's right, who's wrong, yada, yada, yada. But this does seem eerily similar to how MLB basically turned a blind eye to PEDs for as long as they did. And then once it was, wasn't convenient for them, they decided to turn it around on the

players, which is basically what we're going through right now. Like, so many pictures have said, this has been in the game for a long time, dating back to however, the earliest days of baseball, right? I'm sure they didn't have spider attack back then, but they had something. Right. But every time MLB comes across a scandal like this, it just seems like the way that they handle it is just embarrassing,

that they kind of turn it back on the players, and obviously Trevor Bauer went off on a rant about it and so on and so forth. You can go follow it up on Twitter. So before we get into a little bit of glass now here, Scott, do you have any thoughts ultimately on this entire situation, what the policy entails? MLB being dirty rotten scoundrels with the way that they handle this.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's, to me, it strikes me as a little more egregious as their turnaround on PEDs because, like, this wasn't even really a secret that this was going on. And yeah, there were a lot of suspicions about the PEDs 20 years ago. A lot of assumptions made, but like, like, everybody knew this was going on and had been going on for a long time. And even things as commonplace as sunscreen and rosin being suddenly off the table too. Like, you know, there's a rosin bag provided on the mound. You're wearing sunscreen. It's almost like, how do you avoid doing it, you know?

And I just, I worry about the stigma. The stigma we talked about it yesterday. And it was brought up more on Twitter today. Rachel Lubas, who is Trevor Bowers agent, was kind of trying to get out ahead of of the stigma, which was not a great look. Trevor Bauer, Rachel Louva, Trevor Bauer is not going to be a Hall of Famer. So maybe you're looking out for other players,

but I'm just going to tell you right now, Trevor Bauer will not be a Hall of Famer. Continue, Scott. I wouldn't assume that, but fair enough. He has a long way to go, for sure. But yeah, she was kind of getting out ahead of that, and I was just looking in some of the mentions and people were getting riled up about it the same way they do about PEDs.

And I'm like, oh, geez, something that's going to come into play every Hall of Fame vote from now on. Because I just don't like this thought of that. And, you know, as we talked about yesterday, I wonder if 10 games is going to be enough of a deterrent. It's interesting that, as you mentioned, they can't replace a player. So maybe if one guy goes down, everybody's like, all right, don't do any of this for a while. But really the most novel thought I had today about this was brought up by Tyler Glassnow. We did an emergency pod once it was revealed that Tyler Glassnow had a partial tear of his UCL. And he's not going to have Tommy John surgery yet.

He's going to try and rehabilitate it. But I think we all know where that that's headed. But what we didn't mention in that podcast is that he blames the sudden removal of these substances from the field of play for the injury. because all of a sudden the way the ball comes out of your hand is different and you're trying to compensate for that. And any time you're changing the way you deliver the baseball, that opens the door to injury. So he fully blames that on his injury.

And we saw Tucker Davidson get removed today with the forearm issue himself. His velocity was down prior to that. It seems like it might be a serious injury. you know, he hasn't come out and blamed it, but it makes me wonder now every time the pitcher's removed from an injury, could it have had an impact? Yeah, I think that's fair.

And something else that I thought about, Scott, is if we start to see velocity toned down a little bit for the reasons that MLB mentioned, right, that they assume players are not going to try and throw as hard because they don't have this grip, the same grip that they've had for the past couple of seasons. Every time we see velocity down, we're going to have to wonder, well, okay,

is this a reaction to that, or is it something where this player is actually heard or they're pitching through something? So I think that's going to be an added level of analysis that we're going to have to work in in terms of velocity. But I actually agreed with what Trevor Bauer had to say regarding this, is that it is pretty weird to just, like, change a rule of mid-season. It would be like doing that in your fantasy league,

which we constantly tell people don't do that, I guess, unless it's something that's really egregious and there's a unanimous vote within your league. but it is pretty crazy for baseball to just come out and change this mid-season. Maybe they do it in the off-season, and pitchers can learn how to throw without it. But Tyler Glass, now you mentioned, Scott, placed on the IEL, partially torn UCL, blamed not having substances. He basically went cold turkey a couple of starts ago, stopped using them,

and he was trying to overcompensate for not having them, and that's what led to this injury, or so he says. You can listen to the emergency podcast, but ultimately, Scott, you said that you were going to drop him outside of your top 60 starting pitchers. I have updated my rankings. I put him down to SP62 as of now. Does that mean that you are still holding on to Glass Now, I guess, with a slight hope that he returns this season? Yeah, that basically sums it up. I'm not expecting him to return this season, but he hasn't been ruled out and the impact potential is so high that you really don't want to just drop him before

you have to if you can help it. So my goal is to move him down as far in my rankings, like behind all the other pitchers that I wouldn't consider dropping. Just kind of putting them at the back end of that group. So yeah, the 65 to 70 range is probably where he'll wind up for me. Yeah, I think I probably have to drop him even lower than based on, because I agree with what you just said. And Dallas Keikle has looked really good now for two, three-ish starts in a row. So I think I'd rather have Keikle.

Logan Gilbert has looked good recently. Kyle Gibson has been great all season. Frankie Montaust just had a really good start, which we will talk about. So I think I probably need to move glass now behind those names as well. Of course, Shane Bieber went on the IL on Monday. Max Scherzer went on the IL on Tuesday. It's expected to be a minimal stay for him. But if you are hurting for starting pitching,

because you had one or multiple of these pitchers on your team, we spoke about some of these options, waiver wire options, but Logan Gilbert, Terrick Scouble, Austin Gomber. Mike Miner was pretty meh on Tuesday, but he's still been pretty good over his last seven starts overall. And if you're in a deeper league, Vladimir Gutierrez, the name that you can look at as well. But let's get into Tuesday and talk about actual baseball, Scott. Oh my goodness gracious. All right. So where would you like to begin here today, Scotty?

I would like to begin with one of the most available players. You'll ever hear us talk about, no my goodness gracious. And that is Bobby Bradley, Bobbo of the Cleveland Indians, their new first baseman now that Jake Bowers has moved to greener pastures. So Bobby Bradley hit a home run today. It was a very, there was a lot of hang time on this home run. It was like a Dan Strzinski punt. There was a lot of hang time. It was impressive in that way.

But Bobby Bradley, we already know to have impressive power. He is a guy who has had, I think, multiple 30 homer seasons in the minors. And the minor league season is so short. and so few pitches are in the strike zone that it's, that's hard to do. You don't see many 30 homer seasons in the minors at all. Okay, so he has,

he's had a 33 homer season, a 27 homer season, a 29 homer season, another 27 homer season. A lot of home runs for Bobby Bradley. Unfortunately, the strikeout rate has also been very high. It's why, for instance, he was hitting 196 at AAA prior to this promotion.

So is there, any reason to be excited about him then? Maybe. Maybe. Depends how deep your league is. I'm not ruling out Bobby Bradley being better in the majors than he ever was in the minors. Because you look at what he was doing in spring training when it clearly wasn't an open competition between him and Jake Bowers. There were minor league options coming into play with that decision.

Bobby Bradley was very productive this spring. And he only struck out six times in 27 at bats. I look at that, you know, where he seemed like a change player. All the reports were glowing about him, all these changes he had made, you know, specifically with an eye on making more contact. I'm sorry, it was actually seven strikeouts and 33 bats. But anyway, I wonder if it was a situation where he thought he won the job, he gets sent down, he's kind of coasting, going through the motions,

because he's not happy with what happened. And Terry Francona actually referred to it as a bitter pill for him to swallow, for Bradley to swallow. And now he comes up in the majors, and so far, in addition to having three home runs now in 25 at bats, he struck out only four times in 25 at bats. So spring training and regular season so far, you know, we're talking about how many of bats is it?

60 at bats, where he's been a much, much better contact hitter than he ever was in the miners. This is me kind of begging for an answer, begging for the scenario that I want to happen, you know, kind of straining credibility. I understand that, but stranger things have happened.

So I'm hopeful that Bobby Bradley, with all that power, makes enough contact that he can be a fantasy asset. I think in 15 teams are deeper, worth taking a flyer, seen where it goes. But obviously, it's a long shot.

Bobby Bradley, is 24% rostered, and we all know that Cleveland can use help in their lineup. They have Jose Ramirez, Ahmed Rosario, who I'm going to talk about a lot today, because I really like what I've seen from him. They're fine. Eddie Rosario is coming around too, but outside of, you know, three hitters in their lineup, they really, really do need help. So Bobby Bradley is providing that as of now.

He's making a lot of contact. Big power, four seasons with 27 plus home runs in the minor leagues. I read a really cool feature about him on the athletic in the off-season where for years he would change his diet every off-season. And one year he would come in shedding a bunch of weight and then his power would be down. The next year he would put on a bunch of muscle and then he would strike out because he wasn't like flexible enough. And he was talking about how he had his best off-season ever as a professional baseball player this off-season. So maybe it's nothing, but I thought it was actually a really cool story. I forgot who wrote it.

I'd like to give credit to them. But if you search it up on the athletic, you will be able to find it. So I'm actually with you there, Scott. I think in deeper leagues, if you do need some pop, Bobby Bradley is going to have an opportunity here to play for Cleveland. And my oh my goodness gracious player, Scott, I would like to highlight one, Taiwan Walker. And while we're at it, I owe him a formal apology because last week I said, trade this guy for Cracker Jacks, anything that you can get your hands on.

Heck, even if you can get Alex Kiroloff, go ahead, go do it, man. he's not worth anything. And then Taiwan Walker just goes out against the Cubs, seven innings two runs, a career high, 12 strikeouts on Tuesday, 14 swinging strikes on 92 pitches. And what I really like about what he's done recently, one walk or less in six of his last eight starts.

So overall, the walks per nine still look very inflated because he's had some starts where the walks have really gotten out of control. But six out of his last eight with one walk or less, That's really, really encouraging, Scott. And I don't know that he's ever going to be a plus strikeout contributor like he was in this start. But if he can be Kyle Hendricks-esque, which is someone you might have actually compared him to, then I think that there's actually something there with Taiwan Walker. So I apologize to him back-to-back.

Seven-ending starts here. He's got a 2.1-2 ERA on the season. I don't think he's going to keep that up, Scott. But Taiwan Walker has been very good this season for the Mets. Yeah, I mean, he's clearly thriving on weak contact. You mentioned the walk rate for the season's bad. Hopefully, this recent stretch that's going to improve. But the walk rate is bad.

The whiff rate is bad. The ground ball rate is bad. The strikeout rate is merely decent. So clearly he's thriving on weak contact. That's the only explanation. The ex-fip is actually not so bad considering 383. The XERA is actually lower. It's like 330-ish.

Which works. 212. Which works into him generating weak contact. Right. XERA would measure that more than X-FIP would. And the reason I favor X-P-P-2-X-E-R-A is because I don't generally buy that pitchers have a ton of control over that,

especially from year to year, but even within a season. I don't think it's especially predictive. Unless they have an extended track record of it. And Taiwan Walker does have a history of outperforming his ex-fip consistently. So, you know, obviously he's not going to be a 212 ERA guy overall all year. I would suspect from this point forward, maybe a mid-3 ZRA.

But enough strikeouts, enough innings that he's going to be pretty usable. I would be reluctant to move him unless somebody was willing to pay up for that ERA. I still think that he's going to regress at some point. I don't know how much that's going to be. So again, this is a sell-high situation. and we're going to talk about a bunch of hitters later on when we do this trade matchmaker segment that hopefully doesn't bomb it's something new.

I think it's going to work out, Scott. But there are a lot of hitters available now that have gone off to slow starts that you can acquire for cheaper than they were drafted for entering the season. Before we hit the news and notes, this Saturday on CBS, an afternoon of sports begins at 1eastern

with the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo Showdown, Showdown, followed by WNBA Summer Hoops at 4 Eastern, head to the field for the NWSL, then in primetime at 8 Eastern. The Green Flag is out for Superstar Saturday Night and race number two of the Camping World SRX series on the dirt track at Knoxville Fairgrounds in Iowa, a jam-packed day of sports this Saturday on CBS. The news and notes from Tuesday, we had a couple of prospect promotions, and boy, did I whiff on yesterday's podcast, man. Basically, I was Miguel Sinell at the plate on this podcast. In terms of what I said about prospects, because I said, well, Hazer Sanchez is slowing down in June.

I don't know what's going on there. Matt Manning. No way he's going to get called up. Both of them are going to, have either been called up or are going to be called up this week. So let's start with Hazu Sanchez. Corey Dickerson was placed on the IL. Hesu Sanchez at AAA was batting 3.49 overall with nine home runs. He has slowed down in the month of June.

But Scott, he is 31% rostered. Where, if anywhere, does Hesu Sanchez need to be added? Five outfielder leagues for sure. Whether it's 15 team, 12 team, possibly even a 10 team. If it's five outfield spots you need to fill, I think Jesus Sanchez is worth a flyer. I think it's reasonable to be pessimistic about the performance of any prospect call-up at this point. given the way they've gone since the start of last season.

You know, some have been pretty good, but the majority have not. So you need to definitely change your expectations for them as a general rule, which is why I'm not suggesting you call a Pesu Sanchez across the board, even though he was batting 349 with a 1043 OPS at AAA this year. Certainly if he gets off to a good start with the Marlins, catches fire, then I'm going to start recommending him in three outfields, three outfielder leagues as well. But I assume in those three outfielder leagues,

you're really sweating every ad drop. And yeah, you need to make sure the ads count. So I'm not ready to go there yet for Sanchez and three outfielder leagues, especially since, as you pointed out, Frank, he had been slowing down at AAA, 233 with a 670 OPS in his past 19 games. In his debut, it's not his MLB,

debut, but his season debut on Tuesday, he went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts, and he was up against a lefty in Kwongyang Kim. So, I agree with that. I think five outfieldo leagues, you can add him for now, but anything shallower. We're going to play a little wait and see

on Hazu Sanchez. Matt Manning was the other one who will be called up after the Tigers placed Matthew Boyd on the IL. And the reason I was so pessimistic about the possibility of him getting the call is because Matt Manning had an ERA over 8 at AAA. He's 26% rostered on CBS right now

And I don't know if this is just out of necessity Because they have nobody else that they can go to But he was allowing a ton of home runs this year Scott And based on what we've seen from other prospects I don't know I really don't know what we're going to get from Matt Manning So where do you need to add him if anywhere Yeah watch him be the pitcher who dominates right out of the gate

When Jackson Cowar and Daniel Lynch Logan Gilbert none of them did Yeah, I mean, Matt Manning He was the higher prospect I was probably about there with Gilbert Coming into the season Consensus top 50 prospect Very steady minor league track record actually

So to see him struggle so much at AAA It's very confusing Now six of the 11 home runs he allowed Came in his first two starts But even so The five starts that came after He actually had a higher ERA 886 During that stretch

So I guess the one glimmer of hope here is that his most recent start, which was a week ago at this point, two run runs in six innings with eight strikeouts, two walks. That's pretty good. So maybe he's on the right track. But, you know, he had a similar start three turns before that. So, you know, actually three of his seven starts were quality starts. You know, I didn't hear any reports about that latest start specifically.

I haven't heard much to explain why he's struggled at AAA. But honestly, it's such a departure from the rest of his career that I was fearful. A report would come out that Matt Manning was dealing with an injury of some kind. That's how bad it's been. Clearly that hasn't happened. And the fact he's getting the call would suggest that if he has hurt, they don't know about it. But yeah, I'm not considering Matt Manning a high priority ad right now. 15 teams are deeper, fine.

If it just happened to have a roster spot to burn for some reason, and it never hurts to take a chance on upside, but I'm betting against him making an immediate impact. Yeah, if you play in a league where you have unlimited IL spots, which I kind of think we're getting to that point, just throw all your hurt players on there and you have an open roster spot, then take a shot on Matt Manning and see what happens. It's worth mentioning that last year he actually was dealing with some arm trouble

in his pitching arms. So, you know, just throwing it out there because he was pitching so badly. But we will see him this Thursday. It's actually a pretty fun game, him going up against Shohay Otani and the Angels. Max Scherzer was placed in the IL with that groin inflammation, but is expected to be a minimal stay for him. The nightmare season continues for Cody Bellinger, who was placed on the IL retroactive to June 12th.

This might just be a short stay as well, but left hamstring tightness is what he's dealing with there. If you were using Bellinger in the outfield and you need someone there, 50% rostered or less. Ahmed Rosario, Miguel Andhuar, Jock Peterson, Odublerr, were some names that stood out to me. If you need a first baseman who was

rostered in less than 70% of leagues, Joey Vado, who we just spoke about yesterday, Jonathan Scope has first base eligibility. He hit his 11th home run of the season on Tuesday and Patrick Wisdom, who has been hot for the, well, not recently, but overall he's been pretty good for the Chicago Cubs. Adelberto Monasey was reinstated

but did not start on Tuesday, which is something that always confuses me. I don't know exactly why teams do that, but please stay healthy at Alberto Montesi. We are begging you. Luis Severino suffered a grade two groin strain during his rehab stint over the weekend. The Yankees were hoping to have him back by the end of June,

but the groin injury will delay his return by about a month, according to Aaron Boone. So maybe late July, early August for Severino. Price Harper was removed from Tuesday's action with an apparent injury. Ronald de Cunia returned to the lineup. on Tuesday. Chris Bryant left after getting hit by a pitch on his right hand. X-rays came back negative. Anthony Rendon will be out for a couple of days. He heard his triceps late on Monday night. Tucker Davidson, Scott, which you mentioned, left his start with forearm tightness and will be placed

on the IL. That sucks especially for those who started him in a weekly league and were expecting two starts. Boom, this guy, I was one of those. Steven Trosberg's recent visit with a next specialist didn't lead to anything concrete, but he's scheduled for another visit. Well, good luck Stephen Shrosberg. Howier Baez returned to the lineup with his 15th home run of the season. Adbert Aalai threw a bullpen and may be ready for activation

after one more session. Colton Wong will likely be activated during the upcoming series against the Rockies. Jamer Candelario was reinstated Tuesday. Tommy Edmund was scratched due to a tight torso. The tiger is designated Wilson Ramos

for assignment. So if you added Eric Haas, looks like he will be sticking around as their starting catcher. He actually plays a little bit of outfield too. so that helps with his playing time. Remember like in week two when Wilson Ramos was leading the majors and home runs? Yeah, and I think it was like hard hit rain and exit velocity and all this stuff.

Gosh. That fell apart. That was a long time ago. A few prospect updates for you. Jared Kelnick added another sock in a shoe on Monday. That's now a-hack-a-shoe. Two games in a row with a home run. Sock at a shoe.

It's catching on. It's catching on. It's all people talking about it on Twitter. That's now two games in a row with a home run and a stolen baseball. at AAA for Jared Kellnick. So build that confidence up, you know, a couple of weeks. Maybe we see you by the end of June, early July, maybe right after the All-Star break, something like that.

I agree with Scott. I think you should be holding on to Jared Kellnick. And Yankees pitching prospect, Luis Gill was promoted to AAA. He had a 2.64 ERA and a 1.21 whip with 50 strikeouts over 30 and two-thirds innings pitch. So gets a lot of strikeouts, lots of whiffs, but also walks a lot of batters as well. The name there is Luis Ging. We're going to take a quick break, but when we return, we're going to play trade matchmaker.

Should you be selling high on these starting pitchers for some by-low hitters? We'll talk about it next here on fantasy baseball today. So, Scott, I originally got this idea for the segment because I saw a tweet from Ron Chandler, who is one of the most respected, smartest fantasy baseball minds ever in the entire industry. Don't really think there's any disputing that. But he tweeted out, starting Monday, our fantasy standings are going to start shifting. Next winter's stat splits are going to have to be quote, before 621, before June 21st, and 621 and after. So he thinks that there is going to be a dramatic shift in the environment

based on that tweet where offense is going to take off here. And we've already seen it since highlighted yesterday. I think it was June 3rd and beyond. Offense is up quite a bit. And he thinks it might jump even more after Monday, which is when they're going to start cracking down on these foreign substances. Scott, do you think that it will be as drastic as a shift here in favor of offense? I can't say with real confidence. I mean,

I think offense is going to improve to what extent. It could be huge. It could be huge, but I don't think it would just be because of the crackdown on substances. That'll help. That'll be part of it. But there's also everything else we've talked about, pitching attrition, I think, is going to become a problem.

It's already been a problem, of course, record number of IL stints already, but I think that's only going to increase as the innings begin to pile up now that we're past to the end point from last year. I think we're going to see more and more pitchers go on the IEL. And, you know, it's, we're already expecting some, even before this sticky stuff, it came into the discussion. we were already expecting offense to increase just because, you know, April numbers were, the numbers, the season-long numbers were dragged down so much by an unseasonably cold April

where the league-wide babbip was just absurdly low and May was more typical. And, you know, if it followed the usual trends, it would get better and better as the temperature warmed up, offense would. So we were already expecting that. And then we got these other things here now dragging down the pitching pool. making that weaker. So, I mean, the high watermark is 2019 for offense. And I wouldn't rule it out.

I think it's definitely going to be different from April and May. Is it going to be more like, yeah, I don't know. I don't know if it's going to be as drastic as 2019, but I would be, as we've said several times on this podcast, I would be nervous about moving any starting pitching right now. All right. So then maybe I should just scrap this entire segment. It was because it's sell high on starting pitchers for by low hitters.

But someone still might have depth out there. So let's talk about it. I thought the point that you made about attrition is probably the biggest one to take away there because it's a good point. And the fact that all these a starting pitchers are going down, that means people are stepping in who are not nearly as good. So I don't think that we're going to see power bounce back to the level that it was back in 2019. but I think in terms of batting average,

OBP, maybe some extra base hits, some doubles, triples. I do think those are going to be on the rise here. So what I'm going to do, Scott, is I'm going to give you a group of pitchers and then a group of hitters. And you're going to tell me what a realistic trade is.

And if you don't want to trade any of these starting pitchers, if you just want to hold on to all of them, I don't have a problem with that. Just feel free to tell me. So the first group that we have here is Kevin Gosman, Carlos Rodon, and Zach Wheeler, all three of those pitchers rank inside the top six starting pitchers in fantasy points

per game right now. And the hitters that I thought maybe you can acquire for these pitchers included Freddie Freeman, Bryce Harper, or Trevor Story. Do you think any of those trades are realistic? Would you want to try and offer any of them? I think all of those

trades are realistic. I think Freddie Freeman is the one I'd be most eager to trade for of those three, especially now Harper's dealing with the back issue. We don't know the severity of that. But I also think story is going to bounce back in a pretty major way. I would say that Carlos Rodon is the one I'd be most likely to shop for...

Yeah, I think I'd probably trade Rodon for Freeman or story, unless... Like, I felt like I would be putting my pitching staff in dire straits with that move. But if I'm trading from excess, I think that's okay. We've talked before about Rodon, first full year back from Tommy John's surgery, stands to reason he's not going to be able to accumulate as many innings as the average pitcher. And that could become an issue in the second half. So yeah, I'd be fine with any of those, either of those deals.

The second group that I have here is Julio Arias, Trevor Rogers, and Freddie Peralta, all three of those currently rank inside the top 20 in terms of fantasy points per game. And I think specifically with Rogers and Peralta, they're going to be on innings limits at some point. probably could say the same thing for Julio Arreus. Trevor Rogers pitched on Tuesday, and he was at the Cardinals,

six innings, one run, six strikeouts. He has allowed three earned runs or less in every start this season. It's his fourth straight quality start. So for that group, Scott, do you think you can get the Seeger, Machado, I'll even throw in like Christian Yellich

into that group? Or is it more realistic to try for like Jose Abrae, Anthony Rendon, or DJ Lamato? What do you think? So would I trade Julio or Reyes, Trevor Rogers, or Freddie Peralta for Seeger or Machado or Yelich? Again, probably not for Seeger. You know, Machado would be hard to turn down.

I think in any of those scenarios. Yelich is such a big question mark right now. I'm not necessarily opposed to it, but again, it would have to be needs-based. Okay, so you think Arias, Rogers, and Peralta are worth more than, than Jose Abraeu, Anthony Rendon, and DJ LaMaheheu right now. Yeah. Yeah. No, I think that's fair.

The reason I bring it up is because I have a hard time myself comparing the value of pitchers versus hitters. Sometimes I feel like maybe I bring up trades that are not realistic or something. So that's what you got to keep me in check here, Scott. That's what we do. So I'll bring up stuff and you tell me if it's realistic or not. This third group is Aaron Savali and Marcus Stroman, who Savali is currently ninth in fantasy points per game.

I think a lot of that is driven by wins. And then Marcus Stroman is 26th in fantasy points per game. So for Savali or Stroman, how about you tell me what level of hitter you think I can get? Is it Abraeu, Rendon, LeMayhew, or is it maybe the next group below them of, I'm looking at Paul Goldschmidt, Eddie Rosario, Michael Canfordo, who's expected to return soon?

Definitely not that group. No, that's, you've crossed the threshold from hitters I trust to hitters I don't trust. All right. That's good. That's why we're doing this. Yeah. No, I think you need to aim higher. So what would be a good target? Well, do you think, would you do it for LaMahue, Scott, who he currently, he has multiple hits in five of his last six games. So showing signs of life. Yeah. See, this is the difficulty in them constantly changing the environment.

on you because we started to get used to one thing with hitters and now it's about to change again. And we don't know to what extent. Ron Chandler thinks it's going to be to a major extent and maybe DJ LaMayhew lives up to his second round price tag after all. I don't know. But he was one of the players that we were most concerned about the deadened ball impacting him. I think at least in terms of power production that's still on the table as a possible outcome. and I don't have a ton of confidence

that at this point that DJ LaMahue is going to be more than a fringy mixed leaguer. I don't. I'm hopeful in the leagues where I still have him. I certainly wouldn't want to sell low on him, but I can't see myself buying low on him either. All right, so that was for Aaron Savale and Marcus Drummond. So maybe aim higher. I mean, look, it doesn't hurt to aim higher.

What's the worst thing that people could say, no? Maybe they get mad at you. Don't ever send me trade offer again. try it anyway. Who cares? I've had so many people tell me that in my life anyway. This final group's got Kyle Gibson and Anthony DiScliffeani. Kyle Gibson now has a quality start in 11 of 13 starts after Tuesday. Sixth endings, one run against the Houston Astros. I don't really know how he's doing it right now. His home run suppression has been really impressive, 7.6%.

Home runs to fly ball ratio. That's 14% for his career. That's Kyle Gibson. and then Anthony Deesclanis is coming off of a complete game where he was obviously very good. So maybe this is the group where you target like a Paul Goldschmidt or an Eddie Rosario, even though you don't really trust those guys much? Maybe, yeah. I don't. I don't, like I don't trust half the hitter pool right now.

So it's difficult for me to say, oh, yeah, that one's okay. Let me see. Let's see if I pull open. But at the same time, Scott, you probably don't trust, Kyle Gibson or Anthony Descalfani to continue doing what they've done. I don't trust a Desclavani. Yeah.

I don't. I have a little more faith in Gibson. Okay. So let me look at outfield here since this is obviously a deep hitter position. So like a Jared Walsh or a Trey Mancini. Even Mitch Hanager who it sounds like is going to be back in the lineup tomorrow we were worried about him. I mean that deep bone

bruise in his knee. Tay Oscar Hernandez. Alex Verdugo. This is kind of getting toward the end of the hitters I trust. Michael Brantley. I still like Lordus Gurriel a lot, and he's kind of a by-low.

So I would do like Descliffeani for Guriel for sure. I think that's probably a realistic trade. Kind of a boring hitter who I think... I think people dismiss him because he's boring, but I think he's actually pretty good

as Brian Reynolds. I think he's very attainable. Would I give up Gibson for him? Depends what my need is, I guess. If I'm thinking hitting is about to get better and pitching is about to get worse, you know, it'd have to be a scenario where Gibson is like my number eight starter, you know?

Which... In terms of trust level, not performance today. Performance to date, he's probably higher than your number eight starter. Which I think could be realistic, right? Yeah, yeah. Nobody was really touting Kyle Gibson coming into the season. And he's throwing this cutter.

We've talked about it a lot this season, which maybe that's helped with his home run suppression, but yeah, I think if you play in a deeper league, these are all hitters that were drafted inside of the top 150 and they haven't performed. A. E. E. E. Hennio Suarez, Kevin Bizio, Brandon Lau, Alec, Bohm. Kiroloff wasn't drafted inside the top 150,

but his expected numbers are still really good. So I'll just throw that name out there one more time. Jeff McNeil is expected to return soon for the Mets. So there's another name for you. The excitometer, Scott. We debuted the excitometer kind of randomly last week, but I'm going to bring up some notable starting pitchers from Tuesday. And 1 to 10, you tell me how excited you are based on the start that they had.

And we'll start with Luis Castillo, who might be back? He was at the Brewers, seven shutout. We had seven strikeouts to three walks. He had 18 swinging strikes on 109 pitches. And over his last three starts, he has a 1.98 ERA, Scott. The exciteometer, Luis Cascio. I would probably put it at an 8. Pretty excited.

Definitely trending the right way. This was the first week in the leagues where I had him that I entrusted him with a lineup spot again, put him back in my lineup, and obviously that's gone well so far. He has a second start coming up this week. But the velocity's been going up. The swinging strikes have been going up.

The walks have been coming down. And of course, the quality of contact's been coming down too. He just looks like a different picture all of a sudden. You know, he hasn't had like a huge strikeout performance yet that would really punctuate this return to form. So I'm waiting for that. But otherwise, he's looked pretty solid and is back in the circle of trust, I would say.

It is worth mentioning that he's currently on pace to face the Atlanta Braves at home next week. So in Great American Ballpark, I don't really love that spot all that much, but... Let's see how his next start goes. If he's good again next time out, I'd probably be okay with it. All right. How about Patrick Corbyn, who was up against the Pirates on Tuesday?

And it was the furthest he has gone in a start since May 25th of 2019. He goes eight and a third, one earned run, seven strikeouts to just one walk. He had 14 swinging strikes, and he threw 43 sliders, which is his second most all season. Scott, Patrick Corbyn, the Iq. cytometer. Well, second most all season, you're talking a raw count, not a percentage, right? Yes. In fact, he threw 110 pitches probably

contributes to that, because he's been, he's made his slider his prominent pitch again for the past several turns. And really, velocity hasn't been an issue in a while. How many whiffs he's been getting on a slider?

That hasn't been an issue in a while. So, you know, kind of those red flags that we saw for him last year have been gone for a while on that and yet the results weren't there was against Pittsburgh this start but it was a really good start

I would say on the excitometer it's probably only like a four because need to see a few more starts like this before I'm entrusting a lineup spot to him but it's not nothing how about Dallas Kites who was up against the Tampa Bay raise seven shutout with five strikeouts only one walk he had 12 swinging strikes on 102 pitches and he threw 38 cutters in this start and now that's two straight where he is using the cutter more and that was his main pitched last season when Dallas Keikl was awesome there's also three straight quality starts as well Scott so Dallas Keikl the excitometer but you can only get so excited about Dallas Keikle right so I'll say six

point five for Dallas Keichael. Yeah, the cutter usage I think is a big deal. He's certainly looked more effective since increasing increasing it. He was coming off 19 whiffs in his previous start, had 12 in this one which would also be

one of his highest totals for the season. And hopefully he's going to get back to being a quality start machine here. I'm pretty optimistic about that. Yeah, I'm actually pretty excited about Dallas Keikle now too. It's again, you know, you limit your excitement on Dallas Kikek because you don't want to get let down. But he's

pitching very well. Again, getting that cutter involved. Next up we have Frankie Montas, seven innings, two runs, eight strikeouts against the Angels. That is two straight quality starts for him. He had 16 swinging strikes on 98 pitches, and nine of those came on the splitter, which was his best pitch back in 2019. Scott, so the excitometer for Frankie Montas. Yeah, and I noticed, I think for a second straight start, the spin rate on his splitter was down like 300 RPM

which isn't a bad thing. I mean, that's a pitch that you want to drop. You want it to have that tumble. Clearly it was effective in this start. The whiff rate was off the charts on that splitter in this start. So I'm probably about a

7 on the excitometer for Frankie Montas. I want to see here. So don't have the stats for this latest start two and runs in seven innings in here but over his past 10 starts is ERA's below 350

Frankie Montas and the pretty good whiff rate yeah I would say just judging by his season long numbers which the ERA is still over four because of some couple of really rough starts in April I think he might be somebody to target in a trade right now

you know just in terms of so like in a points league well, yeah, in a point's league where you're really cognizant of the wins and losses that your starting pitchers are getting, as well as Frankie Montas has pitched recently. He's only two and five in his past, two and four in his past six starts. So the experience of rostering Frankie Montas may not, even with him pitching better of late, it may not be all that rewarding. So the ERA being high, the win-loss record being kind of skewed,

I think it adds up to Frankie Montas being a by-low target right now because what I've seen with this splitter, particularly in his most recent starts, is pretty encouraging. Specifically on the splitter, his CSW percentage, which is called strikes plus whiffs,

was 46% on Tuesday. Mind you, league average for all pitches, is 28%. So, I mean, anything over 30 is like pretty, good. Anything over 35 is like really good. Anything over 40 is awesome. It was 46% CSW for Frankie Montas's splitter on Tuesday. So that pitch was really working for him. I agree. I think if you can acquire him right now. Something I would look into doing. And I'll just wrap up this excitometer with Shane McClanahan, who was not very good at the White Sox on Tuesday. Five inning, seven hits,

three runs, two of those were earned. But he had 16 swinging strikes on the 89 pitch That was a season high in pitches, and he threw four different pitches at least 11 times, including a season high, 22 curveballs. His previous season high was 11. So over his last restarts, he hasn't been good. He's got a 7.30 ERA. But Scott, something I brought up in our emergency podcast for Glass Now was that some of the other Tampa Bay race pitchers might have to step up and they might get pushed further than they have before because they don't want to tax their bullpen as much as they have. and I think we already have seen that. Shane McClanhan throwing 89 pitches in the start. So if that's a sign of things to come, I'm pretty excited, especially with his swinging strike rate

and throwing all these different pitches like he did on Tuesday. So I will expand it to not only dynasty leagues, I would be looking to buy low on Shane McClanan everywhere, and I think you can get him for like really cheap too. I don't think it's going to cost you anything. Yeah, I mean, in redraft leagues,

he's probably borderline rostered right now because the last three starts to 730 ERA. Yeah, I don't know that my excitement is quite at the level of yours, but I mean, you highlighted all the, all the positive notes in terms of what we're seeing from McClanahan right now. I just wish, I just wish he was more effective, because that's obviously a question mark for a rookie pitcher without much of a track record.

So, yeah, I'll put him as like a five on the excitameter for me. Oh, right, Scott. We have to go rapid fire. into Hyperdrive here. And let's look at some waiver wire options from Tuesday. Ahmed Rosario went three for five with his seventh steal. He's only 48% rostered on CBS. He has shortstop and outfield eligibility.

And in 35 games since the start of May, Amet Rosario is betting 336 with two home runs and seven steals. That is a 30 stolen base pace over 150 games. I really like Amet Rosario, Scott. well somebody has to right there's just not a lot of power there and I don't trust him to sustain a 30 steel pace because he's never done that before

and I know he's with a new team now and that makes a big difference and that team likes to run Scott I think that matters it oh it definitely matters but it's still it's still asking him to sustain peak performance for you know three and a half months I think he's probably more like a 20 to 25 steel guy with a pretty good batting average because he makes a lot of contact.

It's the ball to all fields. Pretty good line drive rate. But not a lot of power. And, yeah, I think that's pretty fringy, only usable in like a roto league, really. Needs to be rostered in every category league. There, I said it for a medrosario. Kwongyang Kim, he was going up against the Marlon,

six innings, one run, five walks with six strikeouts. I don't think Kim is very good but he finds a way to pitch well most of the time. He's 40% rostered and it looks like he's facing the Pirates next week, Scott. Any interest in Quang He and Kim? I really don't have any interest in him.

No, I don't think he's very good either and he's managed to keep the ERA below, well, it just dropped below four with this start but his previous start was three innings. This was his first six-inning start all year. Yeah, I just, I don't think there's a lot of impact here. Man, you know, the Diamondbacks are so bad. I'm sorry for any Diamondbacks fans out there.

So they've lost 26 of 28 now, right? I saw a stat like that somewhere, which is just, you have to try to be that bad. It's just, man. They had a winning record in April. They had a huge lead in this game, and I just checked back, and the Giants won. Like, Mike Yistremski hit a grand slam in the eighth inning to take a one-run lead in that game. And the Diamondbacks found a way to lose. So what I wanted to bring up was Christian Walker, who went two for four with a double, actually two for five, two for five with a double and three RBI.

He's 25% rostered. He did have an 825 OPS back in 2019 and a 792 OPS last season, Scott. So any interest in Christian Walker, maybe in leagues with a corner infielder? You know, I'm mostly just disappointed that Christian Walker is kind of interfering with Pavin Smith. here and actually not that much. Pavin Smith is kind of bouncing all over the outfield, still playing close to every day. But at this point, I have more trust in Pavin Smith than Christian Walker. Maybe the new environment that's forthcoming will change that. Maybe Christian Walker gets back to being a pretty useful batten fantasy. Who knows, Frank? Who knows? You don't know? I don't know, Scott. Let's talk about a few names in deeper leagues.

Jonathan Dazza of the Colorado Rockies went three for five with an RBI. He's betting three 25 on the season. He doesn't really offer much else outside of batting average. He's only 11% rostered. Brett Anderson, somehow through seven shutout with nine strikeouts.

I mean, what happened, Cincinnati Reds? Did you forget how to play baseball on Tuesday? Chris Flexen up against the twins. This might be the biggest head scratcher of all. Eight shutout, four hits, zero walks, eight strikeouts for Chris Flexon in this start.

He now has quality starts in three of his last four starts. I don't know if there's anything there, Scott, but he was really good on Tuesday. Well, the other starts the whiffs were terrible, but he had 15 against the twins. Yeah, I don't really make anything of it yet. But I don't know, it kind of reminds me of that stretch Merrill Kelly was on earlier this year, where it's just kind of one of those things. And obviously, Merrill Kelly's come back down to Earth.

I suspect flex and will too. Yeah, the kind of thing, it's like playing hot potato, Scott. You don't want to be the one that's caught with... Right, exactly. It was, if you started Martin Perez, I think it was last week. He was a two-star pitcher, and he was pitching really well before that. He just got completely destroyed in two starts. So I'm not saying that's going to happen to Chris Flexen.

He had 15 swinging strikes on 107 pitches, so put him on the scout team. That's what we usually say about guys like Chris Flexen. Tuesday, Studs being studs, hitter edition. Jose Al-Tuvae went two-for-five with a grand slam. That's his 13th home run of the season. He is betting 290 with an 844 OPS. Pretty sure 2020 was. A complete fluke for Jose Altuvae.

Trey Turner went at four for five with a triple. He has slowed down a little bit recently, but a nice little bounce back here for him. Raphael Devers went three for five. With his 16th home run, he's now up to 54 RBI on the season. That is second in baseball. He is on pace for 37 home runs

and 126 RBI over 150 games. And he is doing that with a sub-700 OPS versus left-handed pitching. So he is absolutely destroying right-handed pitching. His home run today was off to left-handed pitcher, albeit a weakened one, Tucker Davidson. That's very good to see. Boba Chet went two for four with his 14th home run.

He now has 15 hits over his last eight games, raising his batting average to 284. That was really the last piece of the five-category production we were waiting for for Boba-Shett, and it looks like it's coming around. Not sure that this guy is a stud, but he is now, Scott. Ryan McMahon had three hits, including a triple, and his 16th home run of the season.

He now has had a 42% fly ball rate or better every month this year. So batting average has fallen off a little bit, but Ryan McMahon is someone who in the past has hit way too many ground balls. I really like the fact that he has kept up this fly ball rate consistently throughout the season. Yeah, the fly ball rate has remained up.

The strikeout rate has remained down, and those were his two biggest flaws in past years. So I don't know that the, ceiling is all that high. He doesn't get on base much. The walk rate is low, which limits his potential. But, you know,

course field, that babbip inflating environment, maybe if hitting becomes easier across the league, maybe McMahon gets that batting average up some. I don't know. I don't know. Definitely looks like a better player this year than in the past, though. I would agree with that.

Some leftovers from Tuesday. Gary Sanchez went two for five with a double in his ninth home run. His last 15 games, he's betting 3.40 with four home runs. That also comes with a 31% strikeout rate. So, some signs of life here for Gary Sanchez.

He's been much better in the month of June. Eduardo Rodriguez, at the Braves. Four innings, four runs. Eight strikeouts. Like the strikeouts, but 17 swinging strikes on 80 pitches. He hasn't had a quality start since April 25th, Scott. So,

I don't know. And his ERA is 698 no 621 sorry 621 now is the ERA is bad either way yeah I don't I don't know like he's he's kind of been the biggest

underachiever in terms of looking at his ex-fip and all the predictor stats like that yeah clearly you can't trust him right now these last two items Lance McCullors was pretty meh in his return but I noticed the velocity on his sinker

was 91.9 miles per hour. That's 93.5 miles per hour for the season. So down quite a bit there. I don't know if there's anything, but we'll pay attention to McCullors' velocity. And Hugh Darvish, who he allowed four runs over five innings. He had five different pitches with the spin rate down at least 175 RPM. So I don't know if that bad.

It might have been like a chorus field thing in Colorado. The ball just like moves weird and different there, but I guess it's worth that. That's true. The call to the pen, some bullpen updates, the Texas Rangers, the long-awaited anticipation, Scott, to know who is the Rangers closer without Ian Kennedy? It was Josh Spores, and then he allowed a game-tying solo home run to Carlos Correa.

So I don't think he's very good, but it looks like he's going to be the closer in the meantime, as long as Kennedy is on the IL. For the Mets, Edwin Diaz had pitched three of the last four days, so Seth Lugo pitched the eighth and the ninth inning, and he picked up his first save of the season. Scott, I'm kind of interested in Lugo in category leagues where if you need help and saves, if you need some help

with ratios, Lugo now has a 1.17 ERA with 12 strikeouts over, it's only seven and two-thirds innings pitch, but we've seen Lugo be really good in the past, so. Yeah, and wait a second.

So it was, he missed, did he miss all of last year with injury? I'm not sure it was all of last year. So the last we saw of him, right? He had moved to the starting rotation and started out good, but then got throttled at the end.

No, yeah, he pitched as a starter. That was just last year. Yeah, he pitched as a starter last year. That was just, okay. Last year was so short. I get it mixed up with, yeah, no, he's looked awesome since coming back. He's looked like the elite reliever he was in 2019 and 2018

and before moving to the bullpen in 2020. So I agree. And in terms of ratios, Seth Lugo should be a pretty good bet. For Cleveland in a five-run game, James Karen Chack pitched in the eighth inning to face three, four, and five in the Orioles lineup. Emmanuel Class A was used in the ninth. Wasn't a safe situation, but I thought it was notable. The Red Sox, Matt Barnes, allowed a run, but he got his 15th save.

For the Tigers, Gregory Soto got his sixth save of the season. Jose Cisnero was only used once in the previous three days. So I guess he should have been available. Michael Former pitched yesterday. It was his first game back, so maybe they're taking it easy with him. The Tiger situation is, I mean, I think it may have elevated to one of the worst in baseball, just because they're a bad team, and it seems like they're using multiple relievers. For the White Sox, Liam Hendricks got his 18 save.

For the Marlins, Yemi Garcia, allowed a walk-off home run to Paul Gulchman and took his fifth loss of the season. And for the Reds, Lucas Sims pitched in the ninth in a tie game. Amir Garrett came in for the final out to face Tim Lopes, and he got his third save of the season. That was an extra innings. Yes, it was. If it wasn't clear.

Yep. So, Sims came in with the game tied in the ninth, pitcher's scoreless innings, went to extra. Garrett got a one-out save. I think Sims is the guy, but there was a game recently where he came in in the sixth inning,

randomly. It was, I think it was like the biggest spot in the game, so whatever. And it didn't go well. It did not. That was one of his worst appearances recently, too. I think it was actually

Luis Castile's last star and we talked about that. To stream or not to stream, we'll wrap up here with Wednesday, Terrick Scoobel at the Royals. Kegan Aiken at Cleveland, Griffin Canning at Oakland, Cole Irvin versus the Angels, Brady Singer versus the Tigers, and Merrill Kelly at the Giants. Seems like we've been talking about this pitching slate forever. Yeah, right? Yeah. Now I'm questioning if I got it right. Did you change this from yesterday? Did you change this in the rundown?

I thought I did. Well, Scoople didn't go today, so. You must have. Yeah, scuba at KC is the top choice followed by, I think I would say, Griffin Canning at Oakland and then Brady Singer versus the Tigers. All right.

For Thursday, man, we have had some really bad slates, but this one, I think this one takes the cake. Matt Manning at the Angels in his major league debut, Wade Miley at the Padres, John Gant, that's Cy Young contender John Gant at the Atlanta Braves, Jorge Lopez at Cleveland,

Michael King at the Blue Jays, and a bunch of TBDs, Scott. So if you want to choose those, feel free. Oh, gosh. I'm not even going to try to pick more than one. Yeah, I think it's only Wade Miley. That's it. Yeah, if I have to pick a favorite, it's Wade Miley.

I'm not even fully endorsing him. But he usually is pretty good at limiting damage at least. Yep. Hopefully by tomorrow, those TBDs turn into actual starting pitchers. So we'll have more options then. We're going to wrap up for Scott. I and Frank. Thank you all for listening and watching fans.

see baseball. Today, we'll be backing it tomorrow. Bye-bye.